A Dog's Life 1
by mccabebabe
Summary: first in a series of glimpses into the life of Roxie Alvez. In this one, Garcia interacts with her.


A Dog's Life #1

CM K (Roxie, Garcia)

First in a series of glimpses into the life of Roxie Alvez

An unfamiliar sound had her hurrying to the front window of the ground floor apartment to investigate. Peering through the window solved nothing. She saw only the usual trees and usual streetscape beyond the iron gates and sighed. Craning her neck, she tried to see outside her normal range of peripheral vision and gave up when that accomplished nothing except for a strain in her neck muscles. She heard the sound again; an unusual thumping sound to which she was unaccustomed. It was nothing like any of the sounds with which she was familiar: children playing in the park, simple traffic sounds in the street, the easily recognisable sound of the iron gate opening or closing signaling that one of the residents was arriving or leaving the apartment building grounds.

She knew the sound of _his_ car, _his_ footsteps, _and his_ key in the door. She knew the sound of _his_ voice, _his_ laughter. She heard it again. It _sounded_ a little like footsteps, she thought, but the rhythm, the tone were … wrong.

The thumping noise stopped. She stood vigilant, straining to hear any further sounds. After a long silence, she heard sounds at the front door. Whispered words, but the voice wasn't his. She heard a soft rapping on the door. The hair on the back of her neck rose. The voice spoke again. She was puzzled; the voice seemed familiar. And the owner of the voice obviously knew her.

"Roxie?" the feminine voice called in a hushed tone. "Roxie?"

 _The human knew her_ , she realised. She couldn't quite identify this human's scent through the closed door but somehow the voice made her think of his work.

The key turned in the lock and the door opened a crack. "Roxie?" she asked again. This time, Roxie answered the question with a short bark.

The door opened wider and Roxie relaxed, letting her guard down and wagging her tail wildly. She recognised the visitor! It was the nice lady from Luke's work; the lady who'd stooped down and petted her when she'd visited. She recognised the lady's scent as the human bent down and petted her.

"Luke's out of town overnight on a case, Roxie," the lady explained to her. She scratched around Roxie's neck as she spoke to her. "He worried that you'd be worried so I told him to rest assured that I would take care of it. Um, I mean you."

She stood up and looked around the front hallway. "The first thing on the agenda is probably your walk." She smiled when she saw Roxie's happy reaction to that word and then asked, "Roxie, where does Luke keep your leash? In here?" She motioned to the closet, and upon opening the door found the leash, hanging on a hook.

"You do remember me, don't you, Roxie? I'm Penelope Garcia and I work with your Luke. We met at the office, remember, girl?"

Roxie gave another short bark and panted happily as Garcia moved to clip the leash onto her collar. Glancing down at her clunky high heels, Garcia realised the shoes were completely inappropriate for dog walking.

"Hmmm, Roxie?" She curled the leash up and shoved it into her purse. "I'm going to take you home with me tonight, girl, I can't—" she paused and spelled the word out, "W-a-l-k you here in these," she indicated her shoes and smiled when Roxie barked at the offending footwear. Clip clopping into the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and found the container Luke had told her would contain Roxie's supper. Taking an empty tote bag out of her purse, Garcia placed the food container into it, then bent down and retrieved Roxie's food and water bowls. After emptying the water into the sink, she added them to the bag and addressed the dog,

"Okay, Roxie! Are you ready to go on an adventure with Aunt Penelope?"

The dog barked happily and followed Garcia out the front door. She sat and waited while Penelope secured the lock on Luke's front door and led the Roxie across the yard, through the gate and to her car.

"We'll do that w-a-l-k thing once we're at my place, Roxie. And then there will be supper. And we'll curl up on the couch and watch a movie together, how does that sound? I hope Sergio will be a polite host," she told Roxie as they drove off to Roxie's next adventure.


End file.
